Ten Commandments for Getting What You Want From Modders

[SickleYield]

I posted this on CI and on my livejournal. I plan to put it up at ESF also.

 

I.

THOU SHALT: Ask politely, using a designated request thread where necessary.

THOU SHALT NOT: Post up saying something like “omg somebody make this plz or u r all gay cuz i have no skills.”

(Disclaimer: the foregoing was a simulation not intending offense to anyone who might actually prefer to date their own sex, it’s just one of those phrases the less intelligent poster is prone to use.)

 

II.

THOU SHALT: Have a good idea of what your project will be and what you want from the modder before asking him/her to join.

THOU SHALT NOT: Put up a post calling for a dozen experienced modelers to join the total conversion you’re going to quit on in a month. Having been caught that way once, most modders will never do anything for you again. I certainly wouldn’t.

 

III.

THOU SHALT: Pay attention to what a modder does and doesn’t do before asking him/her for something.

THOU SHALT NOT: Ask an armor modder for a script or a scripter for a detailed model.

 

On a more personal note: Many of us mod for Oblivion because we like the Elder Scrolls world and fantasy setting. Thus, your chances of getting us to make Final Fantasy armor or modern clothing and weapons are very small.

 

As for those of you who would ask a violently feminist modder like yrs. truly for skimpy dresses, showing a complete disregard not only for my existing mods but also a good sixty percent of my posts on a large number of forums, you are cordially invited to go [censored] [extremely censored].

 

IV.

THOU SHALT: Have some idea about the difficulty of what you are asking for.

THOU SHALT NOT: Keep whining about how nobody made you any crossbows and dragons.

 

V.

THOU SHALT: Pay attention to the readme of mods you use.

THOU SHALT NOT: Refuse to read it, then complain that the mod “doesn’t work” when you didn’t check the conflict warnings or set the load order correctly. This discourages modders from even wanting to release their work at all.

 

VI.

THOU SHALT: Remember that modding is a volunteer activity for which people are not paid.

THOU SHALT NOT: Complain when modders make things they want instead of things you want. They’re doing it for fun, and most of us would not consider creating a Grand Theft Auto total conversion for Oblivion fun however badly you might want it.

 

VII.

THOU SHALT: Give constructive criticism where it will be most helpful.

THOU SHALT NOT: Post up comments only for the purpose of saying “Ha ha, your mod is stupid.” Maybe you don’t want the modded item, but annoying the people doing the real work doesn’t get you anywhere on the things you do want.

 

VIII.

THOU SHALT: At least check out some tutorials before giving up on making a mod yourself.

THOU SHALT NOT: Claim modding is too hard for you, then demand someone else do it. Why should we, if it’s that hard?

 

IX.

THOU SHALT: Not be so down on retexes. They’re a good way for beginners to get experience with modding tools. The person who is retexturing now may be creating whole worlds two months from now.

THOU SHALT NOT: Moan about the lack of new models when you couldn’t make a new model to save your life.

 

X.

THOU SHALT: Keep your sense of humor. It’s only a game, after all.

THOU SHALT NOT: Get into vicious flame wars over things that do not, in essence, matter.

[Povuholo]

Nice list. Maybe you could also mention something about uploading someone else's mods somewhere or using someone's creation (weapon, armor, item, script, anything) for your own project, without having asked the original author for permission.

 

Another thing. Something I'm seeing way too often on the file pages here is the phrase: 'No picy, no clicky' and the like.

And then it's not one person saying it in a thread, but it's said multiple times! Mod authors don't owe you anything, and they get the point the first time.

You can say that they might want to upload some screenshots as a tip, but you shouldn't 'threaten' not to download his mod because there's no screenshot.

[Switch]

Pretty good list, thanks SickleYield. One other thing I've noticed, not a problem so much with Oblivion mods but with Morrowind mods people constantly saying "omg maek this 4 oblivion!!11". The modder may not want or have time to make it for Oblivion. If you like it so much, buy Morrowind! ;)

 

I would pin this, but, we have so many pinned threads already... it'd fill up the whole first page with them. o.O

[crazydave]

another good rule of thumb would be to follow through with things you post, and check your PMs even if your not expecting any. one time Someone posted a comment saying she wolud like to help on a project i am working on. I PMed her but never heard back. Even a simple " on second thought im to busy to help" is better than no response.

[Povuholo]

Pretty good list, thanks SickleYield. One other thing I've noticed, not a problem so much with Oblivion mods but with Morrowind mods people constantly saying "omg maek this 4 oblivion!!11". The modder may not want or have time to make it for Oblivion. If you like it so much, buy Morrowind! ;)

 

I would pin this, but, we have so many pinned threads already... it'd fill up the whole first page with them. o.O

That has been bothering me as well. They don't realize that the authors often haven't been here for years, and will never come back.

 

Many people have been buying Morrowind after playing Oblivion though, and they still liked it. The Morrowind modifications forum at the official forums is also very much alive, perhaps even more than before.

On a more personal note: Many of us mod for Oblivion because we like the Elder Scrolls world and fantasy setting. Thus, your chances of getting us to make Final Fantasy armor or modern clothing and weapons are very small.

Maybe that should be said in the mod request thread, where there are tons of those requests.

[Peregrine]

Good list, just a couple additions:

 

 

XI.

THOU SHALT: Pay for your requests. Feel free to ignore any of the above rules if you are offering enough money. Also, it will get your request done much faster.

THOU SHALT NOT: Ignore the "starving artist" stereotype. Give us money.

THOU SHALT NOT: Whine that this is greedy and/or unfair to you. Most artists work on commission, meaning you pay for your requests. Your requests are rarely interesting enough to make us drop our existing projects and work on them for you, unless you are paying our bills. The modding community is the very rare exception, not the rule. You're lucky demands for payment aren't more common.

 

 

XII.

 

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL: Simple enough? If the author doesn't give explicit permission to use his or her work, you may not use it. "He didnt say I couldn't" isn't permission. "He hasn't answered in a month" isn't permission. "He let this other guy use it" isnt permission. If the author says "you may only distribute this file on tuesdays while wearing a yellow shirt", you don't have permission to distribute it on friday in a black shirt. Clear enough?

THOU SHALT: Give us lots of money in lawsuits once we inform your ISP and file a lawsuit against you for copyright violations. You can thank the RIAA for giving us the precedent that our work is worth vastly more than we actually charge for it.

 

 

XIII.

 

THOU SHALT: Read pinned threads. Especially THIS ONE.

THOU SHALT NOT: Be surprised when your request is ignored and/or locked after you ignore the pinned threads.

[SickleYield]

Pretty good list, thanks SickleYield. One other thing I've noticed, not a problem so much with Oblivion mods but with Morrowind mods people constantly saying "omg maek this 4 oblivion!!11". The modder may not want or have time to make it for Oblivion. If you like it so much, buy Morrowind! ;)

I would pin this, but, we have so many pinned threads already... it'd fill up the whole first page with them. o.O

 

I was really just venting. :) The sort of person at whom this was directed usually doesn't read pinned threads. I think they actually do something very much akin to this:

 

1. Buy a new game, such as Oblivion. Play it for a while.

2. Observe a certain lack of something in their game that has been noticed, and commented upon, by many other people. Let's say a full custom mesh set of Final Fantasy armor, since that's one of the more consistently annoying requests I hear.

3. Find a forum with mod-related topics.

4. Ignore the pinned threads. They have too many words in them for this kind of individual to read, and besides, he doesn't have that long an attention span. This is also why he doesn't search previous requests or mods that have already been made.

5. Put up a post asking for said item, often in the wrong section. Throw in one or two more ridiculously difficult things while he's at it, such as a playable unicorn race.

6. Bump the thread when modders scoff silently at the silly request and don't answer the post.

7. Find an individual modder who does something vaguely similar, such as making retextures, and ask him/her for the item. Sometimes this happens instead of 6.

8. Get turned down again. Whine on various forums about how mean and uncooperative modders are. The word "gay" will probably be used.

9. Never even consider learning to mod. That would require an attention span longer than five minutes for something other than actually playing video games.

 

This sort of person would never read the Ten Commandments all the way through to begin with - it has too many of those darn WORDS again.